Shelley Cooper
Shelley Cooper is a two-time Off-Broadway award-winning solo actor/playwright. Her original solo works have received national and international acclaim.
Her one-woman show La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas was featured at IUGTE (2017) in Hollywood Fringe 2021 (Pick of the Fringe and nominee for Best Solo Show), Solofest, LA Women’s Theatre Festival, Orlando Fringe (Best Individual Performance in a Drama), and United Solo Festival Off-Broadway (Best One-Woman Show). Her second solo show, Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum, premiered at Solofest in LA 2023 and has since been an official selection for Fort Worth Fringe, Orlando Fringe FestN4, and the LA Women’s Theatre Festival. It made its European debut in Austria (IUGTE 2023) and was featured at United Solo Fest Off-Broadway with an extended run. The show has earned multiple honors, including Best Biographical Show (United Solo and LA Hidden Gem Awards) and Best of Asylum (HFF24). Shelley’s latest work, Rag Doll on a Bomb Site, premiered at the Goethe Institute in Bangkok and made its U.S. debut at the Hollywood Fringe Festival to critical acclaim. The Hollywood Reporter praised it for “weaving a poetic spell,” and it was nominated for Best Dance and Physical Theatre Show, Best Musical, and Best Solo Show (Hollywood Fringe 2025). She also released the official soundtrack and bonus tracks for Rag Doll on a Bomb Site, marking her recording debut.
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Performance
Rag Doll on a Bomb Site: A Solo Musical with Dance
An Original Solo Musical with dance that the Hollywood Reporter raved saying “weaves a poetic spell. It’s opening night of The Threepenny Opera in Berlin, 1928 when Kurt Weill steps into Lotte Lenya’s dressing room and drops a bombshell that her name is not in the program. Absolutely furious, Kurt demands they cancel the opening night performance. Lenya laughs in his face. She has been through far worse than this in her traumatic past. Lotte Lenya grew up in a slum, beaten repeatedly by a cruel father, endured hunger and crushing poverty, rape, and repeatedly found herself in morally compromising positions as she struggled to survive and advance herself. She’s come so far, and now that she has her dream role, Kurt must allow her to go on stage. But will he?
Nominated at the Hollywood Fringe Festival for “Best Dance and Physical Theatre Show", "Best Musical", and "Best Solo Show" infusing a new contemporary score composed by two time off Broadway award winner Shelley Cooper, modern choreography, this solo musical dance show takes a gritty look at a woman who fled her abusive home, and survived adversity.
This show had a workshop reading which was invaluable for the development of the show at the IUGTE conference in 2024. Now you will see the finished show!
